Your iPhone has many functions that rely on an Internet connection, with the most obvious being email, web browsing, and so
on. However, many default and third-party applications rely on an Internet connection to work as well. Fortunately, you can
connect your iPhone to the Internet by connecting it to a Wi-Fi network that provides Internet access. You can also connect
to the Internet through a wireless network provided by your cell phone provider.

Using Bluetooth, you can wirelessly connect your iPhone to other devices, such as Bluetooth keyboards, headsets, headphones,
and so on.

With peer-to-peer applications, you can also connect your iPhone to other iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads to create a local
network to exchange information, play games, and so on.

Connecting an iPhone to the Internet

To connect your iPhone to the Internet, you can connect it to a Wi-Fi network that provides Internet access, or you can connect
it to a wireless network provided by your cellular provider.

You can use a variety of Wi-Fi networks, including those available in your home, business, or in public places, such as airports,
restaurants, and schools. The benefit of Wi-Fi is that the performance of most of these networks is much better than what
you will experience with the other options. The downside to a Wi-Fi connection is that you must be in range of one, and in
some cases, you need to pay for an account to access a network.

You can also connect to the Internet though wireless cellular data networks provided by your cellular provider. The primary
benefits to these cellular networks are that they are typically widely available to you; your iPhone connects to them automatically;
and you don’t have to pay any additional fees to use them (beyond the data fees associated with your iPhone account). The
downside to these networks is that their performance is less than most Wi-Fi networks. The speed of the cell data network
you can connect to depends on the networks you have access to and the strength of the signal you are receiving. In many situations,
a cellular Internet connection provides more than adequate performance for most Internet tasks you do.

Connecting to an Open Wi-Fi Network

Many Wi-Fi networks broadcast their information so that you can easily see them when searching with your iPhone; these are
called open networks because anyone who is in range can attempt to join one because they appear on Wi-Fi devices automatically.
These are the easiest to join.

Automatic Prompting to Join Wi-Fi

By default, when you access one of your iPhone’s Internet functions, such as Safari, your iPhone automatically searches for
Wi-Fi networks to join if you aren’t already connected to one. A dialog appears showing all the networks available to you.
You can select and join one of these networks similar to how you join one via Settings, as you learn how to do in the following
steps. If you don’t want your iPhone to do this, use the Settings app to move to the Wi-Fi Networks screen and turn off Ask
to Join Networks. When it’s OFF, you need to manually connect to networks each time you want to join as described in the following
steps. If you decline to join an available Wi-Fi network, the iPhone attempts to connect to the fastest cellular data network
available to you.

On the Home screen, tap Settings. Next to Wi-Fi, you see the status of your Wi-Fi connection, which is Not Connected if you
aren’t currently connected to Wi-Fi.

Review the networks that your iPhone finds. For each network, you see its name, whether it is secure, and its signal strength.
(I’ve found that the signal strength icon on this screen isn’t very reliable; you probably won’t really know how strong a
signal is until you actually connect to the network.)

Tap the network you want to join. (If you recognize only one of the networks, you’ve probably used it before, so it is a good
choice.) You also need to consider the security of the network; if you see the padlock icon next to the network’s name, you
need a password to join the network and so the Enter Password screen appears. If the network is not marked with the padlock
icon, it is not secure, and you can skip to step 8.

Tap Join. If you provided the correct password, your iPhone connects to the network and gets the information it needs, including
an IP address. If not, you’re prompted to enter the password again. After you connect to the network, you return to the Wi-Fi
screen.

Not All Access Is Free

Be aware that some open networks charge access fees for Internet access, especially in public places such as airports or hotels;
in these situations, you need a username and password to access the Internet over a network you are connected to. Without
a username and password, you can connect to the network, but you’ll be able to access only the provider’s login page to log
in or obtain an account that you use to connect to the Internet. Some of these networks provide some information or functions
you can access for free without connecting to the Internet, such as a news page.

Typing Passwords

As you type a password, each character is hidden by dots in the Password field except for the last character you entered,
which is displayed on the screen for a few moments. This is helpful even though you see each character as you type it. You
always see the most recent character you entered, which can prevent you from getting all the way to the end of a long password
only to discover you’ve made a mistake along the way and have to start all over again.

Review the network information. The network to which you are connected is in blue and is marked with a check mark. You see
the signal strength for that network. (This indication is typically more accurate than the one you see before you are connected.)

Tap the Info button for the network to which you are connected. You see the Info screen, which is labeled with the name of
the network.

Scroll the screen to review the network’s information. The most important item is the IP Address. If there is no number here
or the number starts with 169, the network is not providing an IP address, and you must find another network. You can safely
ignore the rest of the information on the screen in most situations. If you want to access some of the more advanced settings,
such as HTTP proxy, you need information from the network administrator to access the network, so you need help to get your
iPhone connected.

If you’ve been using a network successfully, and at some point your iPhone cannot access the Internet but remains connected
to the network, move to the network’s Info screen and tap Renew Lease at the bottom of the screen. Tap Renew at the prompt.
This refreshes your iPhone’s IP address, sometimes enabling you to access the Internet again.

Move to the Home screen. You should see the Wi-Fi connection icon at the top of the screen; this indicates that you are connected
to a network and also indicates the strength of the signal by the number of waves you see.

Some private networks require a key index in addition to a password. Unfortunately, there’s no way to enter a specific key
on your iPhone. If a network requires this key, check with the administrator to make sure you have the right configuration
information and don’t need a key index.

Try to move to a webpage, such as www.apple.com/iphone/. (See Chapter 10, “Surfing the Web" endterm,” for details.) If you move to a webpage that is not from a Wi-Fi provider, you’re
good to go. If you are taken to a webpage for a Wi-Fi provider, you might need an account to access the Internet. If you have
a username and password for that network, enter them on the login form. If you don’t have an account, you must obtain one;
use the webpage to sign up. After you have an account with that provider, you can get to the Internet.

Connecting to a Commercial Wi-Fi Network

Many networks in public places, such as hotels or airports, require that you pay a fee or provide other information to access
that network and the Internet. When you connect to one of these networks, you’re prompted to log in. Check out these steps.

Tap the network you want to join. The iPhone connects to the network, and you see the Log In screen for that network.

Provide the information required to join the network, such as a username and a password. In most cases, you have to indicate
that you accept the terms and conditions for using the network, which you typically do by checking a check box.

Tap the button to join the network. This button can have different labels depending on the type of access, such as Free Access,
Login, and so on.

Not Always

Not all commercial networks prompt you to log in as these steps explain. Sometimes, you use the network’s homepage to login
instead. You join the network as described in the previous section, and when you try to move to a webpage as explained in
step 14 in that section, you’re prompted to log into or create an account with the network’s provider.

Connecting to a Closed Wi-Fi Network

Some networks don’t broadcast their names or availability; these are called closed networks because they are hidden to people
who don’t know they exist. To connect to one of these networks, you must know the network’s name because it won’t show up
on the iPhone’s list of available networks. You also need to know the type of security the network uses and its password.
You have to get this information from the network’s provider.

Follow steps 1 through 3 in “Connecting to an Open Wi-Fi Network” to turn Wi-Fi on and to move to the Wi-Fi Networks screen.

Tap the type of security the network uses. The options are None, WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA Enterprise, or WPA2 Enterprise. You don’t
need to worry about what each of these options means; you just need to pick the right one for the network (you’ll need to
get the type of security from the person who manages the network). (The None option is for unsecured networks, but it’s unlikely
that a hidden network wouldn’t require a password.) When you select an option, it is marked with a check mark.

Tap Join. If the information you entered matches what the network requires, you join the network and can begin to access its
resources. If not, you see an error message and have to try it again until you are able to join. When you successfully join
the network, you move back to the Wi-Fi Networks screen.

Test the Internet connection as described in step 14 in “Connecting to an Open Wi-Fi Network.”

Changing Wi-Fi Networks

You can change the network that your iPhone is using at any time. For example, if you lose Internet connectivity on the current
network, you can move your iPhone a different network.

Move to the Settings screen. The network to which your iPhone is currently connected is shown.

Tap Wi-Fi. Your iPhone scans for available networks and presents them to you in the Choose a Network section of the Wi-Fi
Networks screen.

Tap the network you want to join. Your iPhone attempts to join the network. If you haven’t joined that network previously
and it requires a password, enter it when prompted to do so. After your iPhone connects, you see the new network’s name highlighted
in blue and marked with a check mark.

After your iPhone connects to a Wi-Fi network (open or closed) successfully, it becomes a known network. Your iPhone automatically
connects to known networks when it needs to access the Internet. So unless you tell your iPhone to forget a network (explained
in the next section), you need to log in to it only the first time you connect to it.

Forgetting Wi-Fi Networks

As you learned earlier, your iPhone remembers networks you have joined and connects to them automatically as needed. Although
this is mostly a good thing, occasionally you won’t want to use a particular network any more. For example, when moving through
an airport, you might connect to a network for which you have to pay for Internet access, but then you decide you don’t want
to use that network after all. Each time you move through that airport, your iPhone connects to that network automatically,
which can be annoying. So you might want your iPhone to forget that network so it doesn’t automatically connect to it in the
future.

Tap Forget Network in the resulting prompt. Your iPhone forgets the network, and you return to the Info screen. If your iPhone
had been getting an IP address from the network, that address is cleared, and your iPhone attempts to connect to a different
network automatically.

Tap Wi-Fi Networks. You return to the Wi-Fi Networks screen. If a network you’ve forgotten is still available to your iPhone,
it continues to appear in the Choose a Network list, but your iPhone will no longer automatically connect to it. You can rejoin
the forgotten network at any time just as you did the first time you connected to it.

Many cell phone providers also provide other services, particularly Internet access. In some cases, you can access that provider’s
Internet service through a Wi-Fi network that it provides; ideally, you can do this at no additional charge. So, you can take
advantage of the speed a Wi-Fi connection provides without paying more for it. You start connecting to these networks just
like any other by selecting them on the available network list. What happens next depends on the specific network. In some
cases, you need to enter your mobile phone number, and then respond to a text message to that phone number. Some providers,
such as AT&T, provide an application that enables you to connect to their Wi-Fi networks without going through the confirmation
process each time. (The AT&T application is called Easy Wi-Fi.) After you download and install such an application, you can
automatically connect to and use the Wi-Fi network whenever it is available. (See Chapter 15, “Installing and Maintaining
iPhone Applications,” for help finding and installing applications.)

>>>Go Further: Boingo Boingo

Boingo is a network/Internet provider available in many locations, such as airports, either directly or through sharing arrangements
with other providers. In addition to being widely available, this service has an app that you can download from the App Store.
This app does a couple of cool things. One is that you can purchase access time on an hourly basis for $1.99/hour (less if
you buy 10 hours at once); you purchase these as credits via the iTunes Store using the same process you use to buy music,
movies, or other apps. The other is that when you launch the app, it automatically finds and logs into Boingo or compatible
networks, which gets you onto the Internet quickly and easily. The app also shows you how much time remains in the current
session so that you can decide whether you need more time. When your current hour expires, you’re prompted to use another
session. When you run low on credits (hours of access), you can easily purchase more directly through the Boingo app. Your
hours never expire, and you don’t have to make a monthly commitment; the price per hour is quite low compared to many other
options making this is an excellent option when free Internet access isn’t available.